The San Diego Padres' ongoing quest for a World Series (or at least a playoff title). "You know that many runners enter a race, but only one of them wins the prize. So run to win! Athletes work hard to win a crown that cannot last, but we do it for a crown that will last forever." 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

On A Roll

What a great weekend of Padres baseball. We are now officially two weeks away from Opening Day, and this team is looking amazing. Just take a look at these past few games.

On Friday we played the Dodgers for the first time of the spring, and we whupped them. Not too bad, of course, but good enough: 9-4.

Bwahaha, it was a great game. Chris Young allowed a few baserunners in the top of the first, but he was able to get out of it without allowing anything. Hiroki Kuroda, starting for the Dodgers, was not so lucky. Kyle Blanks singled in Eck, who had walked. Chase tripled in Kyle. So sweet.

But CY ran into a little trouble in the top of the second, givine up two runs to allow the Dodgers to tie the game. They got another one off of Chris in the top of the fourth. CY left the game after four solid innings: he allowed seven hits, three runs, and three walks. He also struck out three batters. Chris has always had really bad springs, but he’s not looking too bad this year at all. It’s just good to see him on the mound at all!

In the bottom of the fourth, Will Venable hit a solo home run, his tenth hit of the spring so far.

The Dodgers fought back again by getting a run in the top of the seventh, but the Padres pulled off a six-run bottom of the seventh highlighted by a Chris Denorfia triple, a Tony Gwynn single, an Oscar Salazar double, a Matt Antonelli single, and a Dusty Ryan three-run homer. It was a great inning!

On the pitching side, Adam Russell, Heath Bell, and Greg Burke had scoreless outings. Mike Adams gave up a run, but he ended up with the win. Joe Thatcher closed out the game.

That was an amazing game, not just because we won 9-4, but because it was against the Dodgers. It’s always really cool to beat LA, no matter what context.

On Saturday, we played two games: A 4-1 win against the White Sox in the afternoon, and then another win against the Dodgers, 5-1, that night.

The game against the White Sox was a pitcher’s duel between Mat Latos and Mark Buehrle. It was so amazing! Mat threw five full innings, only allowing one run on two hits. I’m telling you, this kid could be the next Jake Peavy. Man he’s good.

All the starters in our lineup got at least one hit except Nick Hundley. We got our first couple runs in the top of the fourth. Then we got one in the seventh and one in the ninth.

Aaron Cunningham went 3-for-4, and let me tell you, this guy has really put on a show this spring. He’s been outstanding! We got him from the A’s in the Kouz trade, and though I’m still not happy that we had to lose the Kouz, I have to admit that the guys we got back are very, very good and may have a huge impact on this club. So that’s good. But I still wish we had Kouz :(

Stauffer and Mujica pitched after Latos and pitched very, very well.

The second game of the day, which was technically split-squad, was also amazing. Wade LeBlanc was also incredible, and I’d say that he was a little better than Mat Latos. Wade only gave up one run on one hit, while Mat gave up two hits. Oh dear. Mat needs to work on that.

But seriously, Wade was ohmygoodness amazing. He threw five innings, one hit, one run, one walk, three strikeouts. SO GOOD!!!

We had a four-run second inning in which Yorvit Torrealba singled in a run and Matt Antonelli hit a three-run homer. Have I told you how glad I am that we have Yorvit Torrealba? That guy was so good with the Rockies, especially against us, and I’m soo happy that we finally don’t have to have him as an enemy anymore. I think he was the guy who had like two ninth-inning run-driving-in-hits against Heath two nights in a row and I was there for the second one and I was furious against Heath and Yorvit. And I mean FURIOUS. It was not pretty. Thankfully, we were able to win that game in extras. I shudder to think of what might have happened if we hadn’t.

Anyway, I’m very very very very happy to have Yorvit on our side.

Adrian Gonzalez drove in a run, which was sweet. Kyle Blanks went 4-for-4, which is even more sweet. And, we won another game against the Dodgers. It doesn’t get much better than that.

By the way, there was a huge crowd at the game: 13,506. Wow.

What’s more, we won yet another game yesterday afternoon. This time the Rangers were our victims, and we sure victimized them. Final score? 14-5 us. Ha.

Sean Gallagher started the game, and though he wasn’t the best, thank goodness that his offense is on fire right now. He allowed five runs in the top of the third, but otherwise, he threw four innings, allowed five hits, didn’t walk anyone, and struck out two. But here’s another thing: the Rangers only got one more hit in the entire game after Gallagher left. So that was good.

In the bottom of the fourth, we got six runs. Will Venable led off with a double. Nick Hundley grounded out, sending Will to third. Chris Denorfia tripled Will in. We then got three straight walks, the third of which was with the bases loaded. Thus, we got another run. T. Gwynn grounded out, giving us yet another run. And then, the big blow: Jerry Hairston to the Jr. hit a three-run homer. YES!!

In the bottom of the eighth, like all the starters were replaced by guys that I’ve never even heard of. But good for them to get eight runs.

We finished the game with 14 runs and 16 hits. We have now evened our spring record at 9-9. I think that’s great. We’re on a five-game winning streak. I know it doesn’t mean anything, but it sure is good to see this team doing well and winning some games. See? I told you there was nothing to worry about.

You know what else is great? Jeff Moorad is almost ready to purchase the next part of the Padres. I’m so happy. He’s brought so much good to this club, and I can’t wait to see how it will all play out.

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